Baseball Takes Losses to Behrend in Home Opener
ALTOONA, Pa. – Penn State Altoona baseball played its first home games in 687 days on Sunday afternoon, when the Lions welcomed Penn State Behrend for a non-conference doubleheader at Stewart Athletic Field.
Hosting its first baseball games on campus since May 4, 2019, Penn State Altoona (1-3) lost 3-1 in a well-pitched game one, then saw the second game of the doubleheader slip away, as Penn State Behrend (6-0) earned the sweep with a 14-5 victory.
Game One: Penn State Behrend 3, Penn State Altoona 1
Behrend broke a scoreless tie in the fourth inning in Sunday's first game, then maintained a lead through the remainder of the contest to prevail in a low-scoring affair.
Grayson McClain (Mount Union, PA/Mount Union) finished with two of Penn State Altoona's five hits going 2-for-4. Richard Carey (Milton, DE/Cape Henlopen) was 1-for-3 with a run scored, and Timothy Richard (Douglassville, PA/Daniel Boone) and Kyle Glass (Imler, PA/Claysburg-Kimmel) were each 1-for-2.
Alex Kitko (Houtzdale, PA/Moshannon Valley) started on the mound for the Lions and pitched well in the loss. The right-hander went 6 1/3 innings, surrendering two earned runs while striking out four batters. Austin Miller (Orbisonia, PA/Southern Huntingdon) tossed 2/3 inning in relief.
Behrend got on the scoreboard first in the top of the fourth inning, when a throwing error allowed Zack Bowen to score from third and a Colin Harger sacrifice fly brought in Tanner Cicchini.
Penn State Altoona cut its deficit in half in the bottom of the sixth. On Glass' infield hit, the throw to the pitcher covering first base got away, allowing Carey to score from third. But the Lions were unable to do any further damage in the inning and still trailed Behrend heading into the seventh.
The visitors picked up an insurance run in the top of the seventh, when Justin Jones' double to right-center increased Behrend's lead to 3-1. Penn State Altoona threw a potential fourth run out at home plate on the play, and the Lions got out of the inning down by two.
But Penn State Altoona's bats were retired in order in the bottom of the seventh, and Behrend clinched the victory in the first game of the doubleheader.
Game Two: Penn State Behrend 14, Penn State Altoona 5
After Behrend held early leads of 3-0 and 5-1, Penn State Altoona jumped back into the game and trailed by one run through four innings. But the visitors widened their lead in the fifth, then broke the game open with a seven-run sixth inning.
Jake Hillard (State College, PA/State College) was 2-for-4 for the Lions with a double, a run batted in, and a run scored. Anthony Iannizzi (Leesburg, VA/Heritage) finished with two RBI, and Jared Ennis (Richboro, PA/Council Rock South) and Grant King (Wingate, PA/Bald Eagle) collected one RBI each.
Tyler Manger (Lindenhurst, NY/Lindenhurst) started at pitcher for Penn State Altoona, going five innings and taking his first loss of the year. Sam Homan (Altoona, PA/Bishop Guilfoyle) pitched 1/3 inning out of the bullpen, and Jake Bradish (Latrobe, PA/Greater Latrobe) added 1 2/3 innings in relief with no earned runs allowed.
Behrend built a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning, following three consecutive extra-base hits to start the game. After Braden Paulinellie led off with a double, Jones' triple to right-center drove him in. The next batter, Josh Wagner, homered to right to give the visiting team a three-run advantage.
Penn State Altoona plated a run in the bottom of the second, when King's two-out RBI single to right made it 3-1.
But Behrend countered with a run-scoring, two-out hit of its own in the third, when Jake Deitz's two-run double to left-center increased his team's lead to 5-1.
Penn State Altoona cut into the Behrend lead in the bottom half of the third, narrowing the difference to one. Ennis' RBI single to left put one run on the board, and one batter later, Iannizzi's single to right-center drove in two more. But, with no outs and two runners in scoring position, the Lions were unable to keep the momentum going to score any more runs in the frame.
After a scoreless fourth, Behrend used RBI doubles from Anthony Slate and Paulinellie in the fifth to grow its lead to 7-4. The visitors went on to score seven more runs in the sixth to lead 14-4.
Hillard's RBI double to left in the bottom half of the sixth got one run back for Penn State Altoona, but that represented the final scoring play of the day for either team.
Penn State Altoona baseball will return to action tomorrow, following an addition to the team's schedule during Sunday's doubleheader. The Lions will host Pitt-Bradford for a twinbill on Monday, March 22 beginning at 1:00 p.m. at Stewart Athletic Field. While Bradford is an Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference opponent, Monday's doubleheader – like today's games versus Behrend – will be considered non-conference contests.
